NRL, Coronavirus: Legendary commentator Ray Warren’s fears for 2020 season

Rugby league’s greatest caller, the iconic Ray Warren, is worried about the return of the NRL season – because he suspects he’ll be forced into something that “isn’t a risk I want to take”.

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The great Ray Warren has never called a game off the television in his 54-year broadcasting career – and he’s dreading the prospect when rugby league resumes later this year.

Warren is bracing for his employer, Channel 9, to ban him from attending grounds and ask he commentates off a TV monitor from the network’s Willoughby studio.

“That’s when I will have to make some decisions. I’m terribly uncomfortable about calling from the station,” Warren told The Daily Telegraph.

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Ray Warren has been calling top-flight rugby league for more than 50 years. Picture: Gregg Porteous

“I’m not comfortable with the idea. I don’t want to call off the television but it may well be that I have to if I want to keep calling. But it makes me nervous and isn’t really a risk I want to take.

“I know in my own mind that it would be really strange for me. If it means I don’t call for the rest of the year then so be it.

“I have never done it and, at my age, it makes me quite edgy and nervous. I might have to make a decision, I don’t know. I’ve been calling for more than half a century and the only place I know is the broadcasting box at grounds.

“I’ve got one of the best seats in the house.”

Empty stands: Warren is also worried the lack of crowds will impact his call. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Warren is also concerned his call may suffer by commentating without the roar and excitement of crowds.

“I’ve got something to rely on – I’m used to working with a crowd. I take from them what energy I need to put into the call,” Warren said.

“In other words, if they’re excited, I want to be excited. If they’re not excited, what am I doing screaming and shouting? I use the crowd as a measuring stick, if that’s the right term.

“I have used the crowd to my benefit over a long period of time. The crowd are the biggest help I can get.

“A lot of the modern days callers, the younger blokes, are quite used to it but I haven’t called off the TV since I started calling back in 1966. A lot of radio callers are working from the studio and just watching it on the TV.

“But I don’t want to do that.”

Originally published as NRL, Coronavirus: Legendary commentator Ray Warren’s fears for 2020 season